SALT LAKE CITY – Novell Tuesday plans to announce that HP will begin loading Suse Linux 10 on its desktops, joining Dell and Lenovo as partners who pre-install the open source operating system.

The news comes just a few weeks after Novell announced server and desktop revenue had grown 65% over the past year. The company does not break down the revenue -- which hit $30 million in its fiscal first quarter -- by desktop and server, but CEO Ron Hovsepian says the desktop is "on a good track toward doubling its revenue."

"We like where the desktop is going, we like the direction," he adds.

The Dell deal likely will add some momentum to that direction.

Novell plans to make the announcement at its annual Brainshare conference.

The news comes just a day after the company began detailing the underpinnings of its Suse Linux 11 desktop and server. The operating system is slated to roll out in 2009, according to Justin Steinman, directory of product marketing for Linux and open platform solutions at Novell.

The server will become a foundation element of the company's new Fossa vision around service-based IT infrastructure.
The company laid out 11 key themes including an appliance options, a stand-alone virtualization platform, deep support for Windows Server 2008 and "green" features.

The Suse Linux server is earmarked as a foundation element for Novell's Fossa architecture, an service-oriented architecture-like, service-based infrastructure.

Novell plans to add to Suse Linux data center technologies and will include new features designed to support appliance developers. Novell also plans to add high-availability capabilities, support of advanced interconnections such as Infiniband, and features for low-latency computing.

In addition, green features will be added to help reduce energy consumption using virtualization. Novell also will add new power management capabilities for chips and disk drives.

Novell says it will upgrade its Xen virtualization technology to support multiple formats and support stand-alone and embedded versions of the virtualization platform.

The company also plans to focus on bettering its story on Unix migrations by meeting or beating performance benchmarks posted by Solaris and adding migration toolsets. On the Windows front, Novell will focus on optimization, adding advanced support for Windows Server 2008 virtual guest operating systems, systems management and rich Internet application support.
On the desktop, Novell will focus on usability features, collaboration and security.

Whitepapers

• Secure Wireless Printing Options
• Improve Virtual Storage TCO by Comparing Vendors
• Making IT Invisible
• Best Practices for VMware ESX Server
• Virtualizing Storage for VMware Success
• Configuration Assessment: Choosing the Right Solution

View more DATA CENTER whitepapers

Webcasts

• Branch Office Trends and Best Practices
• Best Practices for Deploying WAN Optimization for Disaster Recovery
• Tips and Techniques for Remote Data Backup and Delivery
• WAN Optimization Landscape
• Oracle Database 11g: Advances in Compression, Real Application Testing and Data Guard
• Solutions to the Toughest IT Challenges in Remote Offices

View more DATA CENTER webcasts

Special Reports

• Executive Guide: Storage Heats Up
• Data Centers: At the center of the action
• Executive Guide: Virtualization Reality Check
• Executive Guide: Data Center Decisions
• Get More From Your WAN
• Network World Executive Guide: Perfecting Application Performance Management

View more DATA CENTER special reports